A Note and A Bus Station
by millstone1005
Summary: [Complete] What if Sandy was the one who found Ryan’s note about taking a bus to Chicago to see Lindsay instead of Seth? AU. A little missing parenting from 2.15 'The Mallpisode'.
1. A Note

Title: A Note and a Bus Station

Summary: What if Sandy was the one who found Ryan's note about taking a bus to Chicago to see Lindsay instead of Seth? (A little missing parenting from 2.15 _The Mallpisode_.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to _The O.C_. No profit is taken from this story.

Author's Notes: There has not been a lot of contact between Ryan/Seth and Sandy/Kirsten for several episodes. So I figured I'd introduce some by having Sandy deal with Ryan trying to run away to Chicago instead of Seth.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

With his head under the kitchen sink, Sandy was getting more and more frustrated by this plumbing thing. And having Caleb here moaning about losing Lindsay, which was mostly his _own fault_, wasn't helping matters any. At least Seth wasn't here too, making wisecracks about his lack of ability as a plumber. Seth was off having breakfast with Summer. Sandy could be happy about that, at least. Seth finally won his girl back. Now it was Sandy's turn.

Sandy sighed in frustration. He wasn't getting anywhere and was tempted to just give up, but he couldn't just forget about trying to find Kirsten's wedding and engagement rings. He had to get them back for her to try and get one step closer to making it up to her for all the stupid things he did with regard to Rebecca – even having her around was a colossally bad idea. Sandy didn't even want to think about that maybe Kirsten took the rings off on purpose. Or even lost them on purpose. They just _had_ to be caught in the sink.

Before Sandy gave up entirely on the plumbing, he had one last idea – Ryan. Ryan had a lot of hidden talents, and maybe plumbing was one of them. Who knows, maybe Ryan had to fix a leaky faucet or two back at his Mom's house in Chino, or at Theresa's house over the summer. At the very least, this could get Ryan out of the pool house.

Ryan had been depressed all week about Lindsay leaving. He only left the pool house to go to school, he barely ate, and he didn't want to talk to anybody. Both Sandy and Kirsten had tried to console him, but didn't appear to get anywhere. Even Seth hadn't had any luck. Maybe if Sandy gave Ryan something to do, it would get his mind off of things. For a little while, at least.

So Sandy crawled his way out from under the sink, put down the tools he'd been attempting to use, wiped his hands off, and got up to head for the pool house to get Ryan.

"Where are you going, Sanford? Ready to break down and call a real plumber?"

Sandy looked down at Caleb, who was still sitting in that same spot on the floor, leaning back against the cabinets. Right, maybe it was a bad idea to get Ryan. He and Cal didn't exactly get along, and that was an understatement. You know what, though? Maybe it was time for Sandy to say something about that.

"I'm going to get Ryan to see if he knows anything about plumbing." Sandy pointed a warning finger at Caleb. "And don't even _think_ about saying anything to him, Cal. He's been really upset about Lindsay leaving, and I won't allow you to talk shit to him like you usually do. If you can't be civil, then you can leave." As he said that, Sandy gestured in the direction of the front door.

Caleb didn't move, except for a slight shrug. "Fine, fine. I'll be _civil_." Caleb gestured himself, towards the pool house. "Go get the boy."

Sandy frowned at Caleb. He didn't exactly trust him to keep his word, so Sandy vowed to himself to kick Caleb out of the house if he said anything out of line. Hopefully it wouldn't be too late by then. Then again, both Caleb and Ryan were upset by Lindsay leaving, so they had that in common. Maybe they could connect somehow over that and become... well, not friends, but at least not as much enemies. After all, Sandy and Caleb were almost like friends now after almost 20 years of antagonism, which Sandy never thought would change. So anything was possible.

Sandy took a deep breath and walked past Caleb and out to the pool house. When he opened the door and walked in, he was surprised to find that Ryan was not lying in bed as he had been all week. The bed was even made. Sandy looked towards the bathroom and walked a little bit in that direction.

"Ryan? Ryan, are you in here?"

When there was no answer, Sandy turned back towards the door. That was when he spotted the white piece of paper on the dark blue comforter. It looked like a note. As Sandy slowly walked over to pick it up, he tried to keep himself calm. Maybe it meant nothing. Maybe he just wanted some time to himself, without all the Cohens hovering over him. Maybe he just went to the beach or something.

Sandy reached over and picked it up. He opened it slowly and read it. He had to smile at the first line.

_Don't panic, I'm coming back._

_I'm going to take a bus to Chicago to see Lindsay for the weekend, surprise her._

_I'll be back in a few days._

_Ryan_

Sandy quickly folded up the note and hurried back into the kitchen. He went over to the cordless phone next to the refrigerator, picked it up, and started to dial Ryan's cell phone number. But he stopped and turned off the phone before he finished. It would probably be better if he went down to the bus station and brought Ryan back in person.

"Sandy? What's going on?"

Sandy turned around. Caleb was now standing up at the kitchen island. He'd entirely forgotten that Caleb was here. Sandy put the phone back on its cradle.

"Nothing. I just have to go out for a while." Sandy grabbed the car keys. "You can let yourself out, right?"

Without waiting for an answer, Sandy hurried out of the house.

* * *

To Be Continued 


	2. A Bus Station

Title: A Note and A Bus Station

Summary: What if Sandy was the one who found Ryan's note about taking a bus to Chicago to see Lindsay instead of Seth?

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to _The O.C_. No profit is taken from this story.

Author's Notes: Cesar Chavez Day is a real California state holiday. According to articles on the web, schools are encouraged to have a day promoting community service on March 31 or the Friday or Monday closest to it. For this story, I'm going to say that The Harbor School is honoring it this year on Friday, April 1.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

On his way to the bus station, Sandy thought a lot about Ryan and Lindsay. He was rather surprised that Ryan was willing to travel all the way to Chicago without permission just to see her for a weekend. Earlier in the week, Sandy had been quite surprised at how depressed and upset Ryan was about Lindsay leaving. He hadn't thought that they had been all that committed to their relationship. It seemed as though they broke up, or gave each other space, or took a break, practically every other week.

But after thinking about it, Sandy figured that it wasn't the _Lindsay_ part of "Lindsay leaving" that was really kicking Ryan's ass, as Seth put it, but the _leaving_ part. Not that Ryan didn't care about Lindsay – he did – but Sandy figured that if it had been instead just a case of Lindsay breaking up with Ryan, permanently this time, but she was still around, Ryan would be sad, but pretty much OK. It was _how_ it happened that really floored Ryan. Another person that just left him. It must have brought up all kinds of bad memories and unresolved feelings about his mother.

Well, Sandy was resolved to prove to Ryan that he and Kirsten and Seth weren't going anywhere. He was stuck with them.

* * *

When Sandy arrived at the Newport Beach bus station, he just had to shake his head in mild disbelief. Here he was at the bus station two weekends in a row. He couldn't think of one time that he'd been at the bus station in the 10 years before that. He had to smile as he drove past the place where he and Kirsten had kissed under her umbrella when she came to meet his bus in the pouring rain last Sunday. She was surprised that he had taken the bus, but there was no way that he was going to stay away from Kirsten for another night waiting for his BMW to be repaired after his minor accident on the road with Rebecca. He had a lot to make up to his beautiful and loving wife, and the kiss was a start.

Sandy parked his car and headed towards the waiting area, hoping to find Ryan there. If he wasn't there, Sandy planned to ask around and see if he could find out if Ryan had already gotten on a bus, and which bus.

On his way in, Sandy saw all the soldiers there and it reminded him of when he was a kid. When he was around 8, 10, 12 years old, his mother had been heavily involved in various liberal causes, including anti-Vietnam-war demonstrations and petitions. Since he was just a kid, Sandy himself hadn't cared about the war either way, except that it took his mother away from home even more than before. It seemed like she never had time to spend with him.

Sandy's reminiscing was cut short when he spotted Ryan. He was sitting facing away from the door, in his gray hooded sweatshirt, holding a cup of coffee from a vending machine, and he was looking down. It looked like he had something in his hand, maybe a bus schedule, that he was examining. Sandy could also see Ryan's duffle bag on the seat next to him. He looked like your typical runaway teenager.

Sandy walked over and sat down in the vacant seat next to Ryan without saying a word. As you would expect, Ryan looked up to see who had just sat down next to him. Except for a slight raising of his eyebrows, Ryan didn't have much of a reaction to Sandy's arrival. In particular, he didn't seem surprised. Maybe a little guilty, though.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Sandy decided to go with levity first. "So – it's good to see you out of the pool house."

Ryan gave him a small hint of a smile.

"Look, I know you're upset about Lindsay leaving, but running away isn't the answer."

"I'm not ..." Sandy gave Ryan a look. "... OK, I guess technically I am, but I'm coming back. I'm just going to visit her for the weekend. To surprise her."

"Yes, so you said. In your note." Sandy shook his head a little. "But I think Lindsay has had enough surprises. You need to give her some time. And give yourself some time."

Ryan looked away and didn't say anything.

After a few moments, Sandy continued. "Besides, Chicago is a _long_ way from Newport. It's like 2 days on the bus. 48 hours. You wouldn't even get there this weekend."

Ryan nodded slightly and started to leaf through the booklet in his hands, which Sandy could see now was definitely a bus schedule.

After a few more moments of silence, Sandy offered, "Tell you what. Cesar Chavez Day is coming up in a couple of weeks, right? How about this – if you still want to go and see Lindsay then, and Lindsay says it is OK, you can go to Chicago and visit her for the long weekend. And you can take a plane so you can actually get there and back in a reasonable amount of time. What do you say? You can make up the community service requirement the following weekend."

Sandy gave Ryan a questioning look, waiting for his answer.

Ryan seemed to think it over for a minute, then looked at Sandy. "Yeah. Yeah, OK."

Sandy smiled at Ryan. "Great."

Ryan gave Sandy a small smile back. Briefly.

Then Sandy became more serious and turned in his seat to face Ryan. "Listen, I know I haven't been around much lately, and I want to make it up to you."

"You don't have to – "

Sandy interrupted, "I want to. I want to spend time with you. Just you and me? We can do something together."

Ryan looked skeptical. "Like what?"

"I don't know... We could play video games, or I could teach you how to surf..." That didn't go over too well. "_Or_, or maybe we could..."

Sandy thought for a moment. "I know. We could go to the driving range. Hit the stuffing out of a couple of dozen golf balls? You were so good at it when we went there last year..."

Sandy stopped, remembering why they went to the driving range last year. Oliver had invited all the kids to his mansion on a golf course in Palm Springs. Sandy watched Ryan, hoping that he didn't just get him more upset by reminding him of Oliver. And Ryan was so good at whacking golf balls, he hoped that the association with Oliver didn't just ruin golf for Ryan for the rest of his life.

But Ryan looked OK. In fact, he was nodding. "Sure. I guess we could do that."

Sandy smiled and patted Ryan on the back. "Great. Let's get home. I have some plumbing I need you to look at."

"Plumbing?"

* * *

To Be Continued 


	3. Fin

Title: A Note and A Bus Station

Summary: What if Sandy was the one who found Ryan's note about taking a bus to Chicago to see Lindsay instead of Seth?

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to _The O.C_. No profit is taken from this story.

Author's Notes: This is the end of this story. A big thanks for all the nice reviews!

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Sandy sat on the kitchen floor smiling to himself as he watched Ryan clean up all the tools, rags, and other stuff he'd used on the kitchen sink pipes.

On the way back from the bus station, Sandy had explained to Ryan about Kirsten losing her wedding and engagement rings, and his theory that they had fallen down the kitchen drain. Ryan had claimed ignorance about plumbing, but when they got back to the house and Sandy showed him what he'd already done to the kitchen sink pipes, Sandy could tell that Ryan had to work hard not to laugh.

Ryan took off his sweatshirt right away, crawled in under the sink, and set to work. Sandy had sat down on the floor next to him and watched in amazement. For someone who claimed not to know anything, he certainly looked like he knew what he was doing. And he looked like a real plumber pretty soon with grease and dirt stains on his face, arms, and wifebeater.

It didn't take Ryan long to take apart the important parts of the drain, clean them out and check for the rings. They found a couple of other things, like some loose change, but no rings. Then Ryan expertly put everything back where it belonged. Sandy was glad that Ryan had been able take care of this. He was sure that if he tried it, he'd probably be able to take everything apart, but not put it back together right, and they'd have to call a professional plumber to come in and fix up his mess.

Right now, everything was put back together, but Ryan and Sandy hadn't gotten up from the floor yet. They were still sitting in front of the sink, with the cabinet doors open, and various tools and rags strewn out on the floor around them.

Ryan had just started to clean up when Sandy heard the front door open and close. He figured it could only be Kirsten or Seth. Probably Seth. Unless it was Caleb coming back. Sandy was glad when he returned with Ryan to not find Caleb still at the house. Good. Hopefully he found someone else's ear to bend while he bitched and moaned about losing his youngest daughter.

After a few seconds, Sandy's question was answered when Seth appeared around the kitchen island, looking down at Ryan and Sandy in amazement.

"What _are_ you guys doing?"

Sandy exchanged an amused glance with Ryan, then answered his son. "Ryan was helping me with a little plumbing emergency."

Seth looked alarmed. "What? Did you flood the kitchen or something?"

Seth looked around like he was looking for evidence of flooding. Sandy laughed softly.

"No, nothing like that. I thought your mother's wedding rings might have fallen down the sink and Ryan helped me take apart the drain to look."

"Oh. OK... Wait. What? Mom lost her rings?"

Sandy sighed. "Yes, unfortunately. And I'm all out of theories as to where they might be."

Seth nodded, looking concerned.

Sandy's attention turned back to Ryan at the sound of the toolbox lid being latched shut. Ryan then closed the cabinet doors under the sink and stood up, putting the toolbox on the kitchen island. Sandy followed suit and stood up as well.

Once they were up, Seth addressed Ryan. "Hey, buddy, now that you're finished being Dad's slave labor, we've got a date at the mall."

"We do?"

"Summer and Marissa are going there to pick up some clothes for charity, and we've been invited along. Come on, it'll be fun. We can go to CPK or the arcade..."

Ryan looked at Sandy uncertainly. Sandy could guess what he was thinking. They had already talked about spending time together, going to hit golf balls, although they hadn't set a specific time or anything. And now Ryan had an offer to go have fun with Seth and their friends. Ryan looked like he wasn't sure what to do. Sandy decided to make it easy for him.

"Go. Go ahead. Have fun."

Ryan looked uncomfortable. "Are you sure? Because I can..."

"We can hit golf balls some other time. Go ahead with Seth."

Ryan took a quick look at Seth, who looked a little confused, then back at Sandy. "What about tomorrow? We could do it then, unless..."

Sandy smiled. "Yeah, yeah, that would be great. The driving range will be less crowded on Sunday anyway."

Ryan gave Sandy a little smile and a nod, then turned back to Seth. "Sure, yeah, let's go to the mall."

"Um, Ryan ..." Seth gestured at Ryan's appearance. "... you really have to clean up before we can go."

Ryan looked down at himself and then laughed a little at what he saw. He gave Seth a little nod, grabbed his gray sweatshirt, and headed for the pool house. After Ryan was out of sight and earshot, Seth started in with the questions.

"Dad, how did you get Ryan out of the pool house? This morning..."

"Um, it's a long story, Seth."

Seth looked at Sandy expectantly, as if he expected him to tell the story. Sandy just looked back at Seth. He'd let Ryan explain to Seth about trying to run away, if he felt like it. After a moment, Seth must have realized he wasn't going to get any more explanation, so he continued with his next question.

"He seems to be doing better, though, huh?"

"Yeah, I think so. It's probably good that you're taking him to the mall. Have some fun."

"Yeah, about that. What was all that about hitting golf balls?"

"Oh, nothing really. Ryan and I had talked about going to the driving range later, but we can do it tomorrow."

"Oh, OK."

Seth still looked confused. Sandy was getting a little annoyed by now. Was it that hard to believe that he just wanted to spend a little time with Ryan?

* * *

When Ryan came back into the kitchen, he looked just like he did before, except cleaner. He just swapped out his dirty wifebeater for an identical clean one, cleaned his face, etc, and put his sweatshirt back on. Sandy watched as he and Seth hooked up wordlessly and headed for the front door. 

Sandy sighed as he watched them go, leaving him standing there alone in the kitchen, alone in the house. Well, it was only fair, he supposed. Like that song _Cat's in the Cradle_, he didn't have any time for them before, and they didn't have time for him now. Well, at least there was tomorrow.

Sandy began to sing softly.

_ There's always tomorrow, or tomorrow night.  
Hang in there, baby.  
Sooner or later, I know I'll get it right.  
_

"Dad, what did we say about singing?"

Sandy looked up to see Seth standing at the kitchen doorway with Ryan right behind him.

"I thought you guys already left for the mall. Did you forget something?"

Seth and Ryan walked into the kitchen and stopped on the other side of the kitchen island from Sandy. They were both smiling now.

"Come on, Dad, you know the mall is for girls. Ryan and I need to do guy stuff."

Ryan added, "Like plumbing and golf."

Sandy smiled back at them. "Well, then, let's go hit some golf balls."

Sandy couldn't stop smiling. There was always tomorrow, but sometimes, there was today, too.

* * *

**The End.**


End file.
